Mission Outcomes

The VHA needed significant upgrades to its telephone and quality management systems to improve data collection, performance assessments, and oversight to improve veterans’ access to virtual care. Existing IT systems were outdated, requiring multiple logins for over 70 different systems for each call, making it difficult to assess contact center performance. Additionally, the lack of finalized guidance on performance metrics and targets hindered standardized assessment, and undefined roles and responsibilities for performance evaluation further impeded oversight.

Zero Delta tackled these challenges by implementing Call Center Modernization solutions tailored to the specific needs of the VHA. Initiated in May 2020, the modernization effort aimed to enhance Veterans’ access to virtual healthcare and streamline contact center operations. By December 31, 2021, core services were established, including primary care scheduling, triage, virtual clinic visits, and pharmacy services. The solutions provided by Zero Delta simplified processes by removing unnecessary keystrokes and automated repetitive tasks (such as multiple logins), allowing Veterans to authenticate once in the process and have that authentication carried through to various systems such as pharmacy, the clinician, or other services they needed to connect with.

The modernization solutions provided by Zero Delta significantly improved the VHA’s performance and veterans’ access to virtual care. With streamlined contact center operations, operators can now easily assist Veterans in accessing primary care scheduling, triage services, virtual clinic visits, and pharmacy services. The upgraded telephone and quality management systems have enhanced data collection, enabling the VHA to assess contact center performance and improve oversight confidently. As a result, the VHA can now more effectively meet Veterans’ healthcare needs by providing more timely and efficient virtual healthcare services.

The Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Information & Technology Development Security and Operations (DSO) Business Operations Services (BOS) faced an escalating demand for Authority to Operate (ATO) across both new and existing systems. This surge overwhelmed the VA’s internal capabilities, creating a significant backlog that impeded overall performance. The inefficiencies in IT operations strained resources, causing delays, reduced responsiveness, and increased development and security operation inefficiencies.

Zero Delta integrated a System Steward into the Department of Veterans Affairs BOS to address these challenges. This innovative approach involved close collaboration with Information System Security Officers (ISSOs) and key stakeholders to oversee and support the cybersecurity Assessment and Authorization (A&A) process. The System Steward's functionalities were customized to align with the VA’s existing infrastructure and operational needs. This integration streamlined the A&A process, enhancing efficiency and effectiveness, and optimizing multi-party collaboration, thereby improving the client’s cybersecurity posture.

Integration of the System Steward significantly improved the VA’s performance in managing cybersecurity protocols. The backlog of A&A requests was reduced, enabling quicker response times and smoother operations. This improvement allowed the client to allocate more resources to critical tasks and better protect sensitive data and systems. Zero Delta’s solution contributed to the long-term resilience and success of the client’s IT operations, ensuring that the Department of Veterans Affairs could meet its mission of serving veterans more effectively. The streamlined process and enhanced collaboration have resulted in lasting efficiency gains, increased agility in responding to emerging threats, and strengthened overall cybersecurity posture within the VA environment.

For over 30 years, the CP&E (Claims Processing and Eligibility) system has been instrumental in assisting veterans with their claims. However, as technological advancements emerged, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) needed to migrate from the existing CP&E system to multiple new entity systems. The primary challenge was to ensure that the VA’s business processes and CP&E procedures transitioned smoothly to these new systems while maintaining performance standards.

Zero Delta was brought in to tackle this complex migration. Leveraging its deep expertise in MUMPS—a key component of VistA systems, consisting of nearly 200 integrated applications within a shared database—Zero Delta provided staff skilled in the MUMPS language and system decommissioning. Their extensive experience with transitioning MUMPS/VistA-based systems to non-MUMPS/VistA-based systems, coupled with their mastery of Agile methodology, allowed Zero Delta’s team to integrate seamlessly into ongoing projects. This enabled Zero Delta to continue supporting the claims process efficiently and effectively.

The transition from the CP&E system is an ongoing multi-year effort involving multiple vendors and dedicated teams. Zero Delta’s involvement has ensured that issues can be handed off confidently, knowing that the work will be completed promptly and accurately. The team’s expertise has made issue management and priority shifts reliable and consistent. This sustained success has bolstered the client’s trust in Zero Delta and established a robust working relationship. The client now has greater confidence in maintaining operational standards throughout the migration process, ensuring that veterans’ claims are processed efficiently during this critical transition.

The Patent Office is at the cutting edge of our nation's technological progress and achievement. They are responsible for ensuring their operational policies and IT infrastructure are uniquely designed to protect and serve the ideas of innovators, in the US and abroad. The Patent Office identified inefficiencies that slowed the patent process, increased the risk of data breaches, and created bottlenecks in their workflow. Zero Delta was asked to participate in the development of a Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solution that would secure intellectual property data and address the challenges of overall operational efficiency by modernizing the Patent Office’s IT infrastructure.

Zero Delta leveraged DevSecOps in an Agile scrum environment to co-create a customized solution aligned with the Patent Office's specific needs and challenges. Their efforts included tailoring scripts and workflows to the intricacies of patent examination, incorporating feedback loops to improve accuracy continuously, and integrating the solution seamlessly into the Patent Office’s existing IT infrastructure. Zero Delta's collaborative efforts ensured that the innovative technology was not only cutting-edge but also effectively addressed the Patent Office’s unique requirements, which helped optimize its patent processing capabilities.

Zero Delta’s contributions resulted in a solution that accelerated the application review process, improved patent grant accuracy, and protected personally identifiable information in legal and privacy workflows. Through Zero Delta’s development of a custom DLP solution, the Patent Office’s patent application review times improved by enhancing, streamlining, and tailoring the process to the processing while enhancing the application process. Examination processes are now faster and more accurate, which helps foster innovation and strengthen intellectual property protection. Optimized workflows ensure timely patent grants and support a more responsive and effective national and international intellectual property system.

The VA delivers healthcare to Veterans through telehealth solutions and affordable in-person care programs such as the Veterans Transportation Program (VTP). Veterans are reimbursed for travel to a VHA health facility and sometimes non-VA facilities. The previous user interface was paper-based, required Veterans to manually enter their claim on-site, and did not respond well to the growing challenge of receiving, organizing, processing, and paying millions of these travel claims annually. It also lacked sufficient security controls to quickly detect instances of fraud and mispayments. An updated, user-friendly digital system that would create new communication methods with Veterans and decrease the turnaround time of travel reimbursements was needed. The new system would have to include an updated rules engine and approval workflow that auto-approved most claims, prevented fraudulent claims from moving through the system, and referred a small fraction of complex claims to a clerk for resolution.

Zero Delta developed new technology to efficiently extract information from databases by leveraging updates within the Microsoft Dynamics CRM environment and Microsoft Azure APIs. The new data retrieval and communication system enhanced data loss prevention measures, created a more responsive interface that allowed faster turnaround times for reimbursements, and solved the pre-existing frustrations end-users experienced with the legacy system. Zero Delta also demonstrated a long-term commitment to the VA's success by creating standards and best practices. These measures empower the VA to focus on delivering best-in-class service today with the confidence that it is prepared for the future with flexible technology capable of growing with its operational needs.

Zero Delta's solution enabled the VA team to meet their business goals ahead of schedule. It resulted in the VA successfully serving thousands of veterans using modern data retrieval processes and systems communication technology that is more streamlined and responsive for both the VA and the Veterans who depend on the technology. Veterans can now submit reimbursement requests on any device and receive reimbursement through an electronic funds transfer (EFT) within 1-2 days. Qualifying mileage-only requests are approved automatically, and a new administration interface streamlined all other approvals, reducing travel clerk interaction and saving the U.S. government more than $63 million annually.